Asoex is to create a national topfruit committee to join the country’s existing blueberry, kiwifruit, citrus and table grape committees. The announcement was made by the association’s president, Ronald Bown, during a presentation on the State of the Industry which took place in Santiago on Wednesday.
Hundreds of key figures from the Chilean fresh produce industry, headed up by agriculture minister Carlos Furche, attended the meeting, the second such event organised by Asoex in as many years.
During his speech, Furche praised the cooperation between the public and private sectors, noting that these “have benefited not just the fruit industry but Chile as a whole”.
Bown’s address highlighted some of the key advances made by the industry in the two years since he had delivered the previous State of the Industry address in October 2012, which securing access for Chilean avocados to the Chinese market and for citrus to Brazil, the recent decision by Japan to grant official approval for imports of Chilean cherries under its Systems Approach scheme and the simplification of the import protocols governing avocado exports to Brazil and apple shipments to China.
“The priorities we are focused on right now are to roll out the Systems Approach for table grapes, lemons, figs and custard apples; securing access for cranberry exports to the US and reinstating monitoring at source for blueberry shipments to the US,” Bown said. “In Asia, meanwhile, we are working on securing the go-ahead to export nectarines to China and cherries to South Korea, while in Europe we are increasing shipments of a number of products to the Canary Islands.”
In other markets, Bown said Asoex was in negotiations to gain access for Chilean fruit to Morocco, while in Latin America the association was working on the implementation of a Systems Approach for exports of kiwifruit and table grapes to Brazil and clementines and avocados to Mexico.
Bown paid tribute to the important role played by the individual sector committees for blueberries, kiwifruit, citrus and most recently table grapes, since their creation and announced plans to create a national apple and pear association in the near future.
Listing some of the key initiatives developed by Asoex in conjunction with the Foundation for the Development of Fruticulture (FDF), he praised the establishment of a “Systems Approach” for kiwifruit exports to the US and Brazil, and ongoing programmes to monitor maturity and quality for kiwifruit, blueberry and citrus exports.
Bown also announced plans for the association to launch its new Worker Health and Safety Manual in December.
Finally, he thanked Agriculture Ministry and ProChile for its support in developing promotional campaigns in key markets such as the US, Asia and Europe.
Founded 79 years ago, Asoex is a non-profit association with a membership of 273 grower-exporters who between them account for more than 96 per cent of Chilean fresh fruit exports.
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